When I decided to self-publish, I knew I would have to promote myself and my product like crazy. I would have to market myself.
I wasn’t the shyest person, but I wasn’t one to put myself out there on every occasion. Putting yourself out there is hard. But it was something I had to learn to do a LOT of when I committed to self-publishing.
My first step was to create various social media accounts for my poetry collections. These would be separate from my personal accounts and would focus solely on my work. I made a habit of posting as often as I could, using endless amounts of hashtags to gain followers.
It worked–slowly, but surely, I gained more and more followers, and Instagram ended up being one of my primary sources for marketing!
I created a one-sheet for my name and book, so I could leave them in random places like coffee shops and bulletins around Maine and New Hampshire–wherever I could get them. I did interviews for articles online and in the papers and attempted to contact local tv.
I even went to local bookstores in my state to see if they would sell some copies. My book now exists in local chain stores like Sherman’s Books and others throughout Maine.
As I continued this process, I realized how rewarding it was to market a product successfully. You could see the results of my efforts in sales!
It was then that I decided I wanted to study marketing in college.
Flash forward to now, and I am currently minoring in Marketing Communications. By following through on something I was initially scared of, I realized a skill of mine. Something I could turn into a career.
Marketing is such an important skill. At the very least, self marketing is a skill that I think everyone should have!